Hi Everyone!
Firstly, thankyou for the information I was able to access regarding the Nissan 3L engine and Nissan's refusal to honour its warranty. I want to add our story to the growing number of people with one of these lemons of an engine.
We bought our Nissan Navara in November 2005 and up to 20,000 kms, was serviced at the appropriate Nissan dealer. My husband, Ian, is a vehicle mechanic, a qualified Marine Engine Driver Grade 11 and a Master Class V. He has worked on ocean going machinery up to and including twin Caterpillar installation of 1150hp each and has instructed on the above. We live 700 kms west of
Adelaide and there are no shops, buses, trains, taxis in our little town and because of the dusty environment, our vehicle has to be kept in A1 working order at all times. After the 20,000 kms, Ian did the servicing on our vehicle. The Nissan manual states that if there is no easily accessible Nissan Dealership nearby, then a copy of their service manual can be obtained by contacting Nissan. This implies that because of where we live, we are able to service our own vehicle.
On 15 July 2008, our engine blew after having only done 62,000 kms and boy! were we left high and dry by Nissan. When Nissan could not fault Ian's qualifications (and he is more highly qualified than any service technician or apprentice who would have serviced our vehicle at a dealership) they changed tack to say that it was the type of oil being used. Ian used only premium grade oils on the vehicle but Nissan says that only Nissan specialist oils can be used. What a load of old bull. When we took the car for the new engine's 1,000 service, the dealer (a Nissan Dealership) used Castrol oil - not Nissan branded oil.
Ian pulled the engine down (which Nissan did not do - we do not believe our complaint got any further than the customer service desk) and his conclusion to his report to the Office of Fair Trade says, "In conclusion, I submit that the cause of the failure of this engine was in fact, not anything to do with the type of oil used, who did the oil change or the distance travelled between the oil changes.
From my inspection of the engine, I believe that the malfunction of this engine was caused by its inability to remove heat build-up from the crown of the piston while being operated under load, causing the degradation of the piston material at or near the top piston ring. This resulted in these deposits being sprayed on to the cylinder walls."
As soon as we are able, we will be getting rid of this lemon of a vehicle. On the day we collected it from City Motors,
Port Lincoln (whose management by the way stood by Nissan and not by us, even though we purchased the vehicle from them) another Nissan Navara came in with a broken piston and we have another friend whose Nissan Navara did its gearbox and clutch.
If a class action against Nisson is commenced, we would appreciate being told. I too shall send our story to Today Tonight and intend shortly putting an ad in The Advertiser asking for anyone with a similar problem and treatment by Nissan to contact me in order that we gather as much information as possible.
$12,188.00 out of pocket and represents one year's allocated pension from Ian's super. We are not happy.